The Age of Fire: The Isle of Ice
by Cynderthedragon1
Summary: Authors Note: This is my first book and I hope to make it a long one. This is going to be the story of Natasatch as she goes through life. Apologies for the Rating, I plan for this to get more graphic as it goes on, but this will generally be go up to rated M. Please Rate/Review and tell me how I did. High above the clouds, in the Red Mountains, a clutch of dragons is born.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

There was a change. A drop in the pressure of the air. This air was different than the air she breathed before. This air was clear, sharp and damp. It heralded life into her heavy limbs. But it also signaled the arrival of a heavy storm. A pounding in her ears started as rain began to fall. There was a great CRACK, as lightening hit the ground in front of her.

"_Light, that was close," _she thought to herself. The pounding in her ears increased in tempo as the rain fell, and she felt as though she were encased in stone. The pounding continued obvious to her, sounding like a roaring waterfall now. She tried to take shelter in a small crevice, but her legs felt like they wouldn't respond. She gathered her wits and ordered her legs to move. Lightening struck again only this time it was inches from singing her fringe. She shot down the slope of the hill she'd been standing on when the storm arrived. "I must get away from this storm!" she shouted into the howling wind.

Thunder struck and all went black as she opened her eyes. She was beyond confused as the storm disappeared. "_Or ,_she thought, _maybe there was no storm at all."_ But then, she noticed that the pounding in her ears was actually her own heartbeat racing around in her chest. She then opened her eyes and took another breath of air, its zest the same she had felt on the hill before the imaginary storm hit. There was a faint rustling sound coming from outside her dark vision. It sounded like rocks falling from a wall to the floor, each making a different note as they played their way to the floor. The lightning and thunder was coming from a small crack in her prison. She had the urge to jerk her head upwards, and she did, which produced the thunder noise and made the light in the crack grow larger. The noise was getting louder now that her heartbeat stabilized. There were now small squawks of fury coming from outside. The zest air she loved to breathe all of a sudden changed. As her nostrils took in the new air, with its pleasing nepenthe, she felt in the back of her mind, a presence. It was one that was familiar to her, as she had felt it many times when a voice sang or told stories to her. The voice had taught her all that she now knew. The familiar voice said in the back of her mind "_Natasatch, wake up or Cusiihoth will have your breakegg meal. This will be your first challenge to overcome." _

And thus Natasatch learned her name. The voice gave her an unnatural determination for some reason. She felt her, what was the word…"_Egg Horn"…_her mind supplied, hit against the enclosure with renewed vigor. Three more taps and it cracked all around the base, held together by only a thin membrane and she could wriggle out through the hole she created. She hears a _Snap_ and the squawking she heard earlier was instantly silenced. Natasatch stood in the dim light that hurt her eyes, listening to the water play off the stones in a trickle at the far side of the cavern. She felt that same familiar presence in the back of her mind sending warm feelings of love toward her. Just as she felt the thoughts, a low humming filled the air. She turned and found the source coiled up on the cave wall. Then a voice cut through the air. "Natasatch, my dear, you are the most beautiful thing my eyes have yet beheld." Natasatch turned in a circle, looking for the source of the words, " hello," she said.

There was a chuckle, "I'm glad you can hear me dearest, you are a healthy quick-witted hatchling. Know now that this is the voice of your mother, I am the source of the stories you remember."

Natasatch turned back to the source of the voice, now identified as her mother. She could not be taken in from a single glance, but had to taken in impressions. Her long luscious tail, her great folded wings, and her great spade-shaped head. Natasatch did remember and she stated to pruum to her mother, sending back the warm feelings of love that she got from her mother. As Natasatch and her mother were talking, she noticed that the sound of falling and scraping rocks and started up again. Mother quieted and looked in the direction of the noise. It came from a small sapphire blue hatchling. She automatically crouched and covered her vitals with her _Griff. _The hatchling held the dismembered limb of a small bronze in its mouth. It stopped in front of her and dropped the limb, and started to sniff. Natasatch felt the need to sniff him back, and opened her mouth to taste his scent. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she began to take in more details on her brother. He had thicker shoulders than her, along with thicker legs and tail. Its neck was long, but not as long as hers or the dead bronze, she noted dully, but other than that it was identical to her in every way except color and a small crest behind its eyes. Then Natasatch got a small impression from her brother, no more than one word.

"Cusiihoth."

With that he took up his meal and went to sit by mother who lifted her wing and settled it over him as he slept on her belly. She sent back her own name, and got a vague impression of pleasure at their first meeting. As Natasatch stared after her brother, ascent hit her nostrils.

"What is that," she asked mother.

"That is the smell of your appetite, you need to eat Natasatch." With that she reached down with her spade shaped head and picked up the corpse of the dead hatchling and set next to her. Natasatch settled down and ripped a hunk of meat from the corpse.

"Why didn't you stop Cusiihoth from killing his brother?"

"My daughter, all that extra time in the egg has certainly made you quick-witted, I have never seen a hatchling as well spoken as you before, even Cusiihoth can barley vocalize. To answer your question, all male hatchling in a newborn clutch try to kill each other out of instinct. It is their first test outside of the egg to see who will become champion of the clutch."

"but, why is that?" Natasatch asked.

"It is just in the nature of dragons I suppose," mother said.

Natasatch felt a belch coming up. The air took up a fetid smell of digesting meat. She stifled a yawn, she was very tired after having to break out of her egg and wanted to sleep. But she couldn't, not when mother was giving all this fascinating information.

"Natasatch, we can continue this conversation later, when you are well rested," mother said.

"_That was weird," _she thought to herself,"_ its almost as if she can hear my thoughts."_

"_Not just your thoughts, but I can speak to you over great distances and give experience from my ancestors to you, though as you get better you will find the past life experience already with you."_

As soon as she heard mothers voice in her head, Natasatch jumped.

"How is it done?"

"Not now, little one. I will tell you when you wake up."

Natasatch yawned and curled up at mothers belly next to Cusiihoth, and promptly fell asleep to mother singing.

"_Listen my hatchling, for now you shall hear, of only seven slayers a dragon must fear…_


	2. Chapter 2

The hunting party moved swiftly across the land, stopping only for sleep. They were all elves, quiet, stalking hunters who worked mercenary. Their leader, a tall broad elf with swamp weeds growing in its hair led them towards the Wheel of Fires stronghold at the Ba-drink. All of the elves kept looking back as if the dragons were following them. But each time they did, they saw only the tracks left by their horses.

After a day and a half of nonstop running, their leader, Swampgaze finally called the column to a halt.

"halt," he cried out. "We will make camp here for the night, start unpacking the pack horses." He immediately began to move towards the nearest pack horse, drawing out food and drink that could be easily eaten without a cookpot. He had chosen their camp well. It was off in a sequestered copse of trees that were hard to squeeze through on foot, and nearly impossible on horse. The entrance was hard to spot from ground level. Which was why they were the only ones about who knew about it. But tonight was the only exception. Tonight many of the elves were watching the sky, half expecting a giant angry flying scaled lizard, weighing a ton would drop out of the sky and turn them all into cinders.

"Charmungur, you are on first watch tonight."

"Yes, sir!" came the swift reply. Charmungur was the best scout in their rank, there wasn't much that passed his gaze, and anything that did quickly learned what happened when he got past an elf scouts senses. That is, if he could stay out of his senses. The rest of the hunters were gathered around a fire, preparing the ale tankard they had brought along, getting ready to tell stories. This was the best time of the day. After a long day of scouting, avoiding dragons, then nearly running their horses to death, it gave any man, elf, or dwarf a thirst to be reckoned with. Hazeleye and charmungur sat next to each other next to the fire with nothing but a nod before turning to a new speaker, who was going to tell a story that night.

"Well, ladies and gentleman, have I a story for you on this fine night. One spun and woven with adventure, battle, and terror. Tonight I tell the story of how the great red Dragon AuRye was slain." The elf cleared his throat, and began in earnest.

It was a clear and calm night above Thuls Hardhold. I've been told that it was the dead of night when the guards on the wall started to report strangely strong winds that night. They said it was unnatural, as it was a clear night, with not a cloud in the sky. Then the thumping began. A great thumping that repeated itself every few heartbeats. The guards had never dealt with anything like this before. Many stood dumbstruck, watching banners tear off in the wind. Many of them realized that something big was coming from the north. One dwarf had the sense to run and fetch a war hero from the wars with the Demen and the dragons. When a certain Thulee Altoraz came to the wall there was dread in his heart. He knew that thumping from anywhere, and only one thing could bend the wind like that. He looked on with panic beginning to take place in his heart. To the north, speeding across the land faster than anything he had seen before was a dark outline of a dragon.

"Dragon!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Immediately the assembled dwarven guards bolted in either direction. There were Armories at every gatehouse along the wall. As Ballista were loaded, and crossbows cocked, spears passed back and forth, shields and swords were drawn. The counsel of dwarves that ran the nation alerted its armies and it citizens. Soon citizens were being moved to caves dug for evacuation. Before even a quarter of the city had made it to the caves. The dragon was upon the city. But this was no ordinary dragon; Thulee recognized this one from the wars." AuRye the Red," he cursed under his breath. The dragon was the size of the banking house on Thuls lane in the center of town, and taller than the wall were it standing. In one great swoop it passed over the wall and the assembled dwarves, loosing its _Foua _upon them. The Fire sizzled and crackled as it fell on the assemble dwarves. Fully a quarter of the dwarves took the brunt of the dragon fire, screaming as their flesh melted. At that moment the dwarves recuperated and countered with their own weapons. The ballista and crossbows all fire as one, and most of them struck their target. Half the crossbow bolts bounced off, doing no damage at all. The other half stuck into the scales of the great beast. For a moment, Thulee though they may have scored a hit on the beast, but AuRye's scales were hard and strong, many of them at least a foot thick. The bolts had only sunk in about the diameter of his smallest nail. The dragon swung its great tail down on the wall. Chunks of masonry, mortar, and dwarf flew in all directions. Thulee's mind was racing, he wasn't sure what to do other than fire more bolts at the creature. At that moment, he heard a voice behind him yell out, "Thulee! Get down!." Thulee fell to his stomach an instant before 32 ballista opened up on AuRye. Only a third of them missed. The rest plowed right through the dragon's scales and into its chest. AuRye roared out in pain, a deafening roar that would have frightened anyone without the battle-blood running. The dragon took off at that moment, the pain seemingly getting the better of it. Thulee looked around.

"See to the wounded, start repairing the fortifications, and get a priest up here now." Thulee didn't think that it was the last they would see of AuRye. He was a notably persistent dragon. As the minutes went by, many of the guards relaxed and began to salvage through the destroyed guardhouses along the wall and the destroyed homes near the breach. Thulee was glad at that moment his battle instincts hadn't died down yet. With a roar and a beat of his mighty wings, AuRye flew low over the city, his brilliant hide glowing fiercely in the reflecting firelight. He looked so graceful and beautiful in flight it was hard to imagine him an enemy, and breathed his fire over the city as he passed. Over half the city was alight with dragon fire. Thulee gathered up the guards that he could and headed toward the center of town. AuRye landed on the cathedral that held Thuls tomb, his great weight forcing the structure to groan and shift. He roared out his pain and frustration, half of the ballista bolts still sticking out of his hide, and began to tear apart the cathedral. First knocking over the spire at the top. It fell with a blinding speed into the roof of the cathedral. The walls and supports went down in quick succession, dust and debris flying in all directions. When finished with his task a group of dwarf warriors, twenty strong ran up, swords drawn. The dragon laughed, a chillingly pleasant sound, and backhanded the entire group of dwarves into a red smear across the buildings. AuRye began to walk towards the Titan Bridge and Thuls Hardhold, burning and flattening any building in his way. Women and children screamed as they were turned to dust and ashes. Screams ringed everywhere, mixed with the shouts of Dwarf guards moving people into the caves, and the dwarf warriors running toward the dragon rampaging throughout their city. When AuRye reached Titan Bridge, there was a scar of ruin across the city where he had walked, his massive size allowing him to sweep clear the buildings in front of him. The buildings around the destroyed houses were all set alight from his air passage across the city. At Titan Bridge he began to bash the supports with his tail. They only survived one or two hits from his crushing strength. When the supports lay in splintered pieces, he set the bridge itself alight. Many warriors were gathering at the far side of the bridge, manning ballista, and slingshots aimed at the dragon. AuRye looked at the weapons and unfurtuled his wings. He flew at great speed for such a large size. As a result, many of the weapons missed. The few that hit elected a roar from him, and left large bruises, but otherwise didn't stop him. He flew low, passing balconies of dwarf homes that lined the ravine, breathing fire as into them as he passed. Landing on the other side of the ravine, where the bridge would have led, were large steel doors only a little smaller than he. The ballista and slingshots fired yet another volley at AuRye. He'd had enough of those, so he crushed and burned them out. Thulee and his band of dwarves regrouped at the Titan Bridge as it was set ablaze. There was no way to cross the ravine into Thuls Hardhold, apart from the deep underground escape path.

"No, we need a way to help them," Thulee said. He looked on in horror as the dragon pounded on the doors of Thrailon. Those doors had stood against all enemies the Wheel of Fire had faced. When the Demen from the Darkroads invaded the city, they had nothing in their disposal that could even scratch or dent the doors. When the Barbarian wars had brought the barbarians to the foot of Thuls Hardhold, they could not breach the doors. Seeing the mightiest armies ringing the Inland ocean Break like water over rock made it even more horrible to watch. AuRye the red, Took his massive _Sii_ and swiped it across the door. It produced a deep screech as his razor sharp talons tore gaping holes in the doors and dented them beyond repair. It only took two hits and the door flew backward and nearly collapsed the wall in front of him. The great treasure vault of the Wheel of Fire lay within that keep. Thulee looked on in growing dread as the dragon used the doors to pile the treasure and took off with a great deal of the dwarves gold. As AuRye left Thuls Hardhold collapsed upon itself, leaving behind nothing but a large pile of masonry and brick. Thulee watched the dragon fly away.

"Ergee, start looking for other guards and warriors, everyone else start helping look for survivors." At that moment Titan Bridge finally fell into the Ba-Drink at the bottom of the ravine.

The scavenge parties began the tiresome and dubious task of digging out destroyed homes. Since most of the dwarves house were made of stone, many of the flames died out. The council met that day inside the underground portion of Thuls Hardhold. Deep into the mountain, past where it met with the ground in the most secure room around the inland ocean. The pathway was too long, the tunnels too small for the dwarves to store their gold down here, so it was the emergency council meeting ground. In the event that the city was breached all non military dwarves would make for the lower world caverns. They were safe, secure, and immune to attack. AS Thulee attended the council meeting, his mind kept rolling back at how to kill the beast and retrieve their gold. He sat down on the chair; the rest of the council began to arrive, coming in twos and threes. His best friend Gobold sat next to him as he arrived.

"By the gods above and below, I'm glad your alive." Gobold said. " When I heard you were in the fight with that great beast, I thought surly you would die. Its good to know that you defy fate as easily as you flick you smallest finger."

"HA!" Thulee chuckled. "Fate will have to try a little harder if he wants to take my life from me. Ill not give it to him until the last breath escapes my body." They both chuckled at that. Thulee was surprised that he could still laugh at all after the desolation AuRye had caused. Just then, the last of the council moved to their places. They had been helping out the families who lost loved ones to the dragon. The eldest of the council, a bedraggled old dwarf named Tharl longstrider began to speak.

"I know some of you were not there to see the tale, myself include. I haven't been able to get any information about what's going on until I was whisked away to this chamber. Some of you were in the fighting, so you know what happened. I would ask that you share it with the council."

Thulee stepped forward. "I know a good deal of what happened, as I was the one who checked on the guards when they asked for help."

"Ah, master Thulee. I see that your bright mind may shed some light on this. I know a dragon attacked us, what I don't know is how or why. What drove the monster to attack us with such strength? We have killed dragons before, but never has one pursued us so relentlessly, even for lost family."

"Well, sir, really it was quite simple. It was after our gold." Tharl sounded like he was at a loss for words.

"What!? It killed nigh on some five hundred dwarves to get gold?"

"To be frank and blunt yes it did." It burned half the city to the ground and crushed a fourth of it beyond repair. Dead and dying dwarves lay in the streets begging for a release. It only wanted our gold. It flew in from the north, bending the trees with the power of its wings. It was so massive that even our largest ballista were only able to slightly damage it." The news brought the quiet muttering of the council to silence. Their weapons were the best money could buy, many made by the dwarves, had ravaged the dragon. Yet still it came at us. "The first wave of ballista bolts only dented scale, and left bruises. It was our second volley that hurt it. For it let out a great roar, and then destroyed all of the ballista on the outer wall. Then the beast set fire to Titan Bridge, as well as many of the Cliffside apartments. I managed to round up several dwarf squads, and we made our way to the beast as it entered Thuls Hardhold. But, before we could cross Titan Bridge fell to the ravine below." Thulee shook, the next part chilled him to the bone.

"How did it get through the doors?" Tharl asked.

Dreading what he was about to say, he took a deep breath. "It tore right through them." His words were met by silence. "It tore through the Great doors of Thrailon in two great blows, with each I felt the very earth quiver from across the ravine. Its razor claws tore two sets of scratch marks through the metal on the front side. By the Great ancestors it was terrifying."

A new voice spoke from the assembled crowd, "so, in other words, you failed your job?"

Everyone in the room turned to confront the speaker, talking in hushed whispers, words of treachery. The newcomer was a very large, very tall man. He had avoided notice because he was sitting in the council audience chairs. The chairs went up in an ever ascending wave of steps until it met the wall.

"Who are you man, to come forth and speak this treachery to the great dwarf lords of the Wheel of Fire with such calm coolness. What you say could earn you a swift death.

The newcomer chuckled, "I know you will do nothing to harm me."

It was very odd, Thulee though as he responded. Did this newcomer know how to find the dragon? Apart from that, he couldn't really find anything worthwhile about the man. Unless he knew of killing dragons. The voice in his head died out when he took in the man's array of weapons and armor. His armor was a shining black, covered with gleaming black dragon scales. His sword was a long thin piece of metal that ended in a twin point. The hilt and cross guard were all shaped in the mimicry of a dragons open maw, the tongue being the blade. His spear was completely white, made of some ancient unknown metal. And his shield had the same black scales as his armor.

Tharl, perhaps a fool, perhaps merly ignorant chose that moment to retaliate.

"What cruel joke is this. Who do you think you are to wear the armor of a dragon slayer. There hasn't been one for hundreds of years, and I would know because I knew him." Faster than many could see, Thulee watched as the man in the dragonscale armor dashed forward and grabbed the dwarf by the front.

"Let me tell you something, dwarf. I am a dragon slayer, and I don't make idle boasts. I have been hunting the dragon who destroyed your city for some time now."

By the time the man put the dwarf down, nobody questioned that he was a dragon slayer. He had held a rather potbellied dwarf in the air with one hand long past the moment he should have dropped him.

"My name is Drakossohz. The dragon blade in this tongue. If you want my help I suggest someone brief me on the situation."

"That would be my job," Thulee said. "I was the closest to the beast and will be the only one who knows anything about it." The dragonblade turned to him and looked him over.

"Yes, I do believe I saw you on the walls fighting the monster. You are either very brave, master dwarf, or very foolish. Now lets move to a map room where I can get the lay of the land.

"And so," The elf storyteller said to the gathered scouts," There the dragonblade waited for three days, looking over maps of the land. And a month later, the dragonblade set out with a party of forty dwarves strong. When they came back, their number was reduced to fourteen dwarves and the dragonblade. The dragonblades leg was broken beyond repair. So badly that many did not think he would live. It was thought to be a major defeat. But as the dwarves unpacked the wagon, they looked on, stunned. Inside the wagon, wrapped in canvas was the severed head of AuRye the red. And so ended a great time of peril, along with one of the most dangerous dragons they had dealt with. The dragonblade soon passed away, but not before teaching his only son everything he knew. When he passed away, he also passed along his title as dragonblade, to his son who now live among the wheel of Fire dwarves. He now gets employment all over, as it seems like the dragons have come out of hiding to Destroy the hominids once and for all." The assembled elves all cheered at that. Hazeleye turned away from the rest of the elves and walked into the forest. Charmungur got up to follow and see what was wrong, but Swampgaze stopped him and said.

"Don't, she needs time alone."

"But why?" said charmungur.

"Hazeleye is different than most elves. She is one who doesn't look at dragons as evil creatures, but wild animals that need to be left alone."

"But that's absurd. No one likes dragons. They steal and plunder and murder whole towns of men!" charmungur was a little angry now.

"Charmungur, ask yourself this, then get some sleep." They both noticed that the other elves had settled down and were preparing for sleep. "Has it not been us, the hominids who have deiven the dragons out of their natural homes for selfish reasons? Maybe you don't know it, but there was a time when there was peace, even friendship with dragons. Look it up in the library when we get back to Thuls Hardhold.

"Alright." Charmungur said. Secretly, for he had the highest respect for Swampgaze and would not say it to his face, he knew Swampgaze was wrong. Dragons should have been exterminated long ago. And that night, he dreamed of dying dragons across the land.


	3. Chapter 3

Natasatch was exploring the long, snakelike tunnel that led to the upper world. She never actually left the tunnel to the greens above, but it felt like going up there when she snuffed and explored it. She had just sniffed the trail of a slug that wasn't days old, and was about to follow it when something caused her to stop. Natasatch heard a scrape against the big rock at the mouth of the cave and immediately froze. A shadow fell across the entrance, it was a large shadow. She saw then, a dragon enter. She couldn't have said what color it was, for the light silueted the dragon. With a squeak of fear, Natasatch fled back to the recesses of the cave where mother waited. She ran as fast as her dragon-dash would carry her, jumping and climbing over rocks and tree roots. She swam across the pool to the shelf where mother rested.

"Mother! Mother!" Natasatch squeaked

"What is it Daughter?"Mother asked in warm tone.

"There is a strange dragon in the cave!" mother immediately went as stiff as a stalagmite that ran to the ceiling of the cavern. "Grab your brother and hide now!" Natasatch had never seen mother act like this. It was as if she were going to die. Then, as Natasatch thought about it she realized that mother could die from a fight with a hostile dragon. Cusiihoth was exploring a large crevasse in the floor when Natasatch found him.

"Natasatch what's wrong?" Cusiihoth asked in a tone that only slightly suggested he was interested. "There is a strange dragon In the cave," Natasatch said. "We must hide." Cusiihoth grew serious in a heartbeat and began to retreat into the crevasse. "Come Natasatch, there is plenty of room. Natasatch squeezed into the hole with her brother. She could see nothing around he save the opening and what happened outside due to the lack of glowing cave moss. Mother was in a fighting stance at the cavern entry. Moments went by with nothing happening. Natasatch thought the dragon must have left, or was it her imagination? As she milled over those thoughts, A dragon, Sapphire Blue walked into the cavern. Mother left off her fighting stance and threw herself onto the blue dragon; their maws connecting for a long moment before they broke apart. Piled on top of each other Cusiihoth and Natasatch looked on as their mother twined her neck about the stranger, while he gently caressed her face with his tongue.

"Come on," Natasatch said.

"We don't even know him!" Cusiihoth said, weary of the stranger.

"Mother taught me about dragons and their mates. She wouldn't react like that to some stranger, and she sure as well wouldn't let him touch her like that. Natasatch climbed out of the hole, followed by her brother who looked at the blue dragon from every possible angle.

"I would say he takes after me with a wary look like that," the dragon said looking at Cusiihoth.

"Hatchlings, come and know your sire. There is Cusiihoth and Natasatch, came in that order. Both are speaking clearly already and can comprehend and send complex mind pictures."

"Well Epatch, I think I can say without a doubt that we succeeded in our first clutch." He crouched down and looked at Natasatch, looking down every detail and line of her body from head to toe, then did the same with Cusiihoth as he took their scent to memory. When he finally stood back up, Pride in his clutch was as clear in his eye as a look into the pool that fed the cave moss and slugs.

"They are both fine hatchlings," he said. Then gave a brief affectionate _prrum _to both the hatchlings and their mother. Natasatch's stomach growled, loudly and she remembered why she had been searching through the tunnel in the first place. Apparently he stomach growled too loud, for father gave a brief chuckle and went out of the cave. A few moments later he came back with the carcasses of two deer in his mouth. "Here you are my gems," he said. Natasatch and Cusiihoth both jumped up the moment they saw the deer. They both had a days old hatchlings appetite, and eagerly tore into the offered meat.

He took the other deer and dropped it before mother.

"I take it your hunt was very successful?"

"Very," father said. I was able to take these two without a long search, and found more besides. They seem to be returning from the eastern slopes now that the men have move back to the west. There were vast herds of wild buffalo on the eastern steppes, and large quantities of mountain deer in the forest foothills."

"Would you care for some?" mother asked.

"Oh, no. I had a few mouthfuls of deer before I came back, I wont be hungry for a day at least. No I though after all the time an d work you spent these last two weeks caring for the hatchlings and brought you the biggest deer I could find."

Mother, grateful to father sent warm thoughts of love through mind speech, and devoured the corpse of the deer. Then mother and father began to converse on mind speech while the hatchlings ran out their energy climbing all over father. He sat next to mother and swung Cusiihoth around on his tail, much to the hatchling delight while Natasatch clamored at her brother to let her have a turn. After they both ran until they dropped father lay down next to mother and slept long and hard.

The next day Father was up first, and went around inspecting the cavern for anything that might hide in the crevasses and holes that were all over the cave. Epatch and the two hatchlings both woke up at the same time. When he was done inspecting the cavern, he went over and whispered to mother. Natasatch couldn't hear what he was saying, but felt that it was important. She only caught the last word which was, "yes." Father walked up to Cusiihoth and said, "Well champion, your mother says that you think you are ready for the upper world." Cusiihoth suppressed a groan and was about to argue that he was ready, when father cut him off.

"Well, let's see if you are ready, shall we?" he led Cusiihoth over to the cavern entrance and started up it. Cusiihoth, dumbstruck for a few moments, quickly shot after the receding footsteps. Mother called Natasatch over for a lesson in hunting. The lesson began in earnest, with mother telling her all the dangers she might encounter while hunting in the upper world. She tested her knowledge of the creature upon the surface, what to do if it is bigger, what to do if you are being hunted yourself, and so on and so forth. Much to her disappointment, Natasatch failed in most of the scenarios except for the bear lesson, which was to loose you urine to scare it away. The subject naturally moved on as the lesson ended. Natasatch's head was pounding after all the things she was trying to remember. Mother let out a small _prrum_ as she read Natasatch's mind.

"Do not worry, we will go over this many more time before you are let loose in the upper world," mother said.

"Why does Cusiihoth get to go to the upper world already? If he is ready, then surly I can be too right?"

"Natasatch," mother began, "You would probably do just fine in the upper world. Your father is in charge of his champions learning, he can do it his own way. Meanwhile, while those two stamp about and snarl at their enemies, I will teach you how to be a quiet huntress. I will teach you how to effectively fight without any risk to your well being. You will become as stealthy as a gray dragon whose underweight and starving." Natasatch felt a little better at the sound of that. "How did you and father meet anyway?"

"Oh, we go back a ways." Mother said. "I suppose you should learn about finding a mate now so we don't have to do it later. When you grow older, old enough that your wings finally burst forth from your back, you will start to have urges that you will not fully understand." Natasatch sat down, _sii _and _saa_ tucked under her body as she listened. As she understood it, mating was the single most important decision in her life. Mother continued," these urges will drive you to find other dragons, specifically male dragons, you will find. You will grow close to one, eventually whether you like it or not, and the two of you will fall in love. He will work himself up to sing to you what he calls his lifesong. It is a song created by the male dragon about his lineage and feats of strength to win your heart, though if you love him you should accept either way. When a dragon sings to you his lifesong, it is the ultimate profession of love. It means he loves you, and is willing to sacrifice life and limb for you. Should you accept his offer to mate, you will fly high into the clouds with him. Flying higher and higher, you will begin to notice that you are becoming less and less aware of what you are doing. Just let nature take its course and follow your instinct. Natasatch didn't actually know what the act of mating was, mother had only told her of the acts leading up to her mating, not what it was. But she said to follow her instincts and that was good enough for her. Mother started her story, with a little history lesson.

"It all started at the fall of Silverhigh. Silverhigh was the ancient legendary empire of dragons. By helping the hominid lines, they gained respect and leadership from the hominids. When the blighters commanded the world, the dragons subdued them. It gained many a dragon a place in the human legends, or dwarf and elf history, but it was the defeat of Anklamere that finally put fear of dragons away from the hominids. Anklamere was a wizard who knew the secret of divine creation. You remember when I told you how the world and dragons were created?"

"Yes," Natasatch said, remembering her lessons. It was all her mother had taught her besides hunting.

"Well," mother said, "We think that Anklamere was one of the select humans who were brought before Fire spirit to learn the secrets of magic. Many think he rose too high in the ranks, or he was even more powerful than Fire spirit. Whatever the cause, Anklamere learned the forbidden magics of creation and destruction. Then he began his conquest. He Came in what many refer to as, 'The Lavadome.' It is a large crystal covered with streaks of magma that drip down. From that place, the wretched trolls rose to conquer the known world in Anklamere's name. They were heartless, fearless beasts who were made to kill dragons. He offered dragons only two options. Thralldom, or death. Many chose thralldom, some had it forced upon them. The remaining free men, Elves, Dwarves, Blighters, and Dragons all rallied under one banner, and began to push on the forces of darkness. They won battles, and lost others. Anklamere's trolls were bred for dragon killing, and many a dragon fell to a well armored troll. The king of the men, a large western fellow named Tindairruss, once a friend and ally to Anklamere before he went insane, rose and met Anklamere at his Lair. He was not alone, however. Tindairruss, like having his own wings, rode on the back of his oldest friend NooMoahk the black out of legend. NooMoahk, who helped end the Blighters reign on the earth, rode with Tindairruss into battle, to fight the Dread Anklamere and his army of Gargoyles. So ended the great wizard, who had for generations helped men and dragons. He, who was a strong ally to dragons in their time of need turned on them and made them into thralls. AT the end of the war, Tindairruss and NooMoahk the Black proved triumphant, and smote the ruin of Anklamere upon the mountainside. In the ashes of the wizards empire, a new alliance rose up between hominids and Dragons. They called it Silverhigh, to honor the Dairrussmen in their largest finest kingdom. After the construction of Silverhigh, the dragons set themselves up as divine rulers of the land. They drove the hominids with whips and irons, turning their former allies into hateful rebels, or fear-ridden slaves. Their hatchlings grew up thinking the benefits and privileges of Silverhigh were theirs because they were born from such fine fellows. While the old dragons who fought against Anklamere grew old and died off, the younger generation turned into the Dragon Tyrants of Silverhigh. They drove the hominids even further back, reducing them much from their former glory. Men, Elves, Dwarves, Blighters, and even the hominids of the deep know as the Demen hated the dragons with such infallible malice. But they were still afraid to challenge their winged overlords. That is until Prymelete came along. He was a human soothsayer who praised the dragons to the point where they fell over as if they were drunk. They admitted him into their deepest councils, even into the Firepit. The Firepit was a cauldron of fire that led deep into the earth, only the most courageous, smartest, or even tempered dragon was allowed into the most sacred council. Prymelete had spoken his way in with words of praise that could bring rocks to life. He spent many days and nights deciding on events with the dragons. He even imitated them by spitting into the cauldron as the dragons did. Although, as you can guess daughter, he could not breathe fire. One day, when all other dragons had left, he produced a vessel such as men use to drink with. He dipped it into the eternal fire, filling it with dragon _foua_. Then ran like a nest-filcher to a secret, dark council of the principle races of hominid. The _foua_ had cooled by then and was shared among the men. It put dragon fire into their hearts and made them challenge their Dragon lords. Nobody alive knows why, but only a few of the dragons fought back with what remained of their hominid armies. The rest ran, only to be brought down by the great Rocs. The legendary birds out of the east took all but the most athletic dragon down. Those that survived fled to the Great Eastern kingdoms of the Sunstruck Sea. When the traitorous men came looking for them on swift flying rocs, the eastern kingdoms had already been hidden inside deep temples, and remote fastness. Nobody knows why the dragons didn't fight, did they forget, or were they put into despair by Prymelete? All that is certain is that fierce Dragons out of the south, from the Lavadome, avenged their fallen brethren without any remorse for the hominids. That deadly, blood soaked year was the death of two empires. The blighters had rebuilt a little of their kingdom and waxed into a peaceful life of farming and prosperity. The other was the Demen. They got the harshest treatment out of all hominids. They were banished to the lower world to scratch out a life for their race. It is why, to this day they hate us more than any other including Dwarves."

"Why do they want to kill us?" Natasatch asked, curious about such a strange notion.

"Not just us, dear but all of Dragonkind," mother sat back thoughtfully for a moment, then continued.

"Which leads to the next part of our story. After the fall of the hominids, Dragons returned to the Lavadome to build up their strength and hide from their enemies. I was born to a family in that contingent of Dragons. I was a dreamer when I was a hatchling, always talking about the surface and wishing to go there. I had a friend, then. His name was CusiiNoth, a blue dragon with wit and cleverness. He and I shared the same dreams, we both dreamed of a brighter world. One where we didn't have to skulk around underground all the time. Our parents thought us fools. They bade us against it, saying we would have a better life to simply take a mate and have a few clutches of Hatchlings. All in all, dream while we were asleep. We respected our parents and listened to them, though we didn't stop dreaming of the upper world. CusiiNoth joined the Drakewatch, the young fighting members of the Lavadome, to provide his support to the Tyr. Similarly minded, I joined the Firemaids, The Female defenders of the Lavadome. Since we were fast friends, and worked well with each other, we often got partnered up with each other after passing the training caves. Soon we were both delivering supplies to our discreet upholds, or patrolling the river ring caves for Demen. Then our wings finally revealed themselves fifteen winters out of the egg, both of us getting them a moonturn apart. Then we were considered part of the Elite Drakewatch and Firemaids. I had no intention of ending my days as a firemaid, and he had no desire to be in the Drakewatch for the rest of his life. The change happened during one of our long missions to get supplies to worlds end. Worlds end was the ancestral mating ground of the dragons. The uphold gave up its fat cattle to the Lavadome so we thought it an important task. We were about halfway to worlds end, when I started to think about taking a mate. I thought back to my male friends from the training caves and Dragons whom she served with, many whom were her friends still. But I knew that I should be taking someone who was always there for me, even in the darkest of time. Like when my parents died, there was only one dragon who cared about her more than life itself. It was CusiiNoth, the dragon who had held her with wings wrapped around her as she cried onto his shoulder. He had shown neither pity, nor tried to cheer her up like most of her friends. He just held her, and was there for me."

_Flashback,_

He held me as I cried. At that point in my life I never thought that my parents would depart the world so soon after she reached maturity. It had been five years since her wing had come out, and she was on a mission to deliver supplies to worlds end. News, brought in by messenger had told her the tale of their demise. There had been a group of Demen who acted as Lavadome thralls, who slipped in and poisoned the grand feast of the Tyrs victory in Ghioz. The Ghi-men were attacking the Anaean slope again, raiding their Kern supply. When I broke down in tears, he wrapped his arms, not locking Sii or Saa, around me along with his wings. His tail touched mine comfortingly, and he slowly licked the tears from my face. We must have stood there for at least a few hours, when he finally released his hold on me.

"Are you ready to continue on, or would you care to return to the Lavadome?" he asked in a warm, understanding tone. His parents had died when he was young, and Epatch had supported him through it as well. Epatch sniffled, dried the tears from her face and said," no, we have a caravan to put at worlds end in a moonturn or less." They continued to walk until nightfall, by then they had made camp and were getting ready to fall asleep. That was the night Epatch realized she loved CusiiNoth. He made his way over to her, stopped a few feet in front of her and asked, " Are you sure your okay? I am here if you want to talk." Epatch decided to tell them how her parents died. When she finished, she was crying again and found herself falling into his embrace again. Maybe it was the touch of a kindred soul who understood what she was going through, or maybe because they cared about each other. He didn't seem to mind as she held him and cried, she saw how much it troubled him to see her cry. She had been strong ever since coming out of the egg. Seeing her break down and cry must have broken his heart.

"It is alright, you must remember them for who they were and relish in their memory. Not their deaths, smile, it will all turn out alright." Talking to CusiiNoth always calmed her down, he was a kind, compassionate spirit who cared about her.

"Thank you CusiiNoth, I should be alright now". She smiled then, the smile he loved to see, which only meant she was happy and meant what she said.

"Good, now you should get some sleep. I will take the first watch. He didn't wake her up that night. During his watch, he had been thinking over his actions and feelings about Epatch. He was confused and frustrated, he didn't know what he was feeling. He thought he had overstepped the boundary when he had held her, but she had not objected. In fact, she seemed to think it was the right thing to. He knew he was fond of Epatch, but his feeling were more than fond. It wasn't until morning, when the sun rose above the horizon, and it light fell on his friend. As she roused herself, she stretched in the light, causing the light to reflect off her scale and define her beauty. As he stared at his best friend, he now knew what feeling it was inside his. Love, it was the purest feeling in all the world to both of them.

For the next moonturn, as they delivered their supplies, they both avoided each other thinking that the other didn't want to speak to the other. As they finally made it to Worlds End, CusiiNoth decided it was time to tell her. He walked over to Epatch to ask her what he had been nerving himself to do throughout the trip.

"Epatch," he said.

"Yes, CusiiNoth what is it."

"Will you meet me in the woods tonight, there is something important I need to talk to you about?"

Epatch though he was going to tell her he didn't feel like that toward her. Dread filled her at the thought, "yes, I will be here tonight."

He was practically jumping out with joy, so big was the grin on his face. "Great," he said, then ran off toward the waterfall where he spent all day composing his Lifesong to himself, making sure it was correct, truthful, and perfect. Night came faster than he would have liked, he finished his lifesong, and gave his Sapphire blue scales a polish so they gleamed in the moonlight. He took a deep breath, and strode towards the point he specified to her. She wasn't there yet, so he stood around, fidgeting. Epatch was late and she knew it, but there had been so little time for her to get what needed to be done, done. She had shaped her Sii claws, brightened and polished her scale, and smoothed her fringe. She didn't know what CusiiNoth wanted yet, but she knew it was important, so she wanted to be dressed for the occasion. She strode toward the point he had specified to her earlier that day. As he came into view, she gasped quietly, she had never seen anyone so beautiful in her life. All he had done was give his Sapphire blue scaled a polish so they gleamed in the moonlight. But to her, he seemed almost a rival to the sun, in his radiance. CusiiNoth looked on in awe as he saw her. She had trimmed her claws, polished and brightened her scale, and smoothed her fringe to the best it could be. She obviously saw this as an important night even though she had no idea what he wanted. They both stopped in front of each other, staring. "You look wonderful," Epatch said.

CusiiNoth warmed at that. "Thank you, you look amazing tonight." Her scale rippled and shifted at the praise and he thought he saw a deep tinge of red on her cheeks. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" _That is just like her,_ he thought, always getting to the point.

He cleared his throat, dreading every second he didn't tell her, but dreading what she would think.

"Epatch," he began, "We have know each other very early on in life. We have been constant companions and friends for years in service to the Lavadome. You were there for me every minute in my life when I needed you. When my father died, and my mother, in despair took her own life, I was lost. Then you came and helped me along with it. I have helped you in every way that I could, and I hate to see you in pain." Epatch hoped this conversation would go where she thought it would. "I have been thinking these past two weeks about my future. I don't want to end it as a member of the Drakewatch."

"_Oh god", _she thought ,"He's going to do i." I thought about all our time together, and well…"

"Go on," Epatch said kindly.

He took a deep breath, "I love you."

She stood speechless, even though she thought this was where it would lead and wanted the same thing, it still shocked her to hear it from his own mouth. "I love you and want you to become my life mate." She hesitated, and he took it as a sign that she had done something wrong. "I am sorry!" he said quickly. He began to tear up, spread his wings and prepared to take off all in about three hearbeats.

"Wait!" Epatch said. He turned around, tears falling down his face. "I have felt the same way for about two weeks! I love you too, I just didn't want to tell you because of what you might say.

At this revelation, he gasped, "You do!" He turned into the happiest dragon on earth at that moment. "Thank you, Epatch, thank you for telling."

Epatch looked at him lovingly and said, "I would love to be your soulmate forever," he began to tear up again, and was about to reply. To say something about his unrequited love for her being like a shield them until now. Before he got even one word out of his mouth, a large, green, scaly mass leapt atop him and pinned him to the ground. He snarled at this treachery, he would teach her to mess with a dragons feelings, but before a single word came out, her scaled maw connected with his and he gradually lay off convulsing and enjoyed his first kiss. They stayed locked that way for a few long, passion filled- moments, their tongues exploring each other's mouth.

"I don't know what overcame me," mother said "It was like I couldn't control myself.

"You loved him," Natasatch said, "Isn't that normal?"

"Well, for many it was. I just never had a moment as intimate as with him before." She continued her story.

"As we lay there, lips locked together, I felt a strange warm feeling in my abdomen. Then a sweet smell filled the air, accompanied by more warmth from within. CusiiNoth started to stroke me in a place no dragon had ever touched; her Dragonhood. He started to stroke harder and more vigorously, and, I swear I could not help myself otherwise it would not have happened, I felt a great moan escape my mouth. I started, I had never made that noise no matter what anyone did to me. It didn't seem to confuse him, in fact it made him stroke harder. Soon, moans of pleasure were rattling off her every few seconds. She had never felt so good before. He rolled over so he was on top of me, and at first I resisted, but then I realized that I wanted this as badly as he did. I felt another moan escape my mouth and this time it felt completely right. When, not long after, I let another moan escape my body, I felt a change. First was that my moans and grunts became even more frantic, then his body temperature started to rise like mine, and next he started to pant. I felt something thick and hard poke me under the stomach. Only then, did she feel it was time.

"It is time, my love" she said. He looked doubtful. What is it, do you not wish for this?"

"No, no," he said, "I just thought I would sing my song first."

"If you thought for even a second that you would have me without a song, you are an even bigger fool than I thought," Epatch said playfully.

"I never said I wouldn't," he shot back with a smile," I just didn't know how I should do it."

Truth be told, she would have flown with him even without a song.

"How did he do it?" Natasatch asked, excited with the story so far.

"I'm getting to it child, calm down, " Said mother.

Both dragons took the sky, and CusiiNoth began his song in earnest.

"_Line of Cusii dragon fine, flows to me with every line. While he searched for the right sign, he judged that it was his time. With Malena, quick and sharp, till finding Cusii, every day was stark. To me she passed her wit and tongue, and to which from my mind has sprung. When cussi gave his life to me, with fighting dwarves he told me flee. I found a home at island lone, When human life caused me to groan. Cross the shores, east and west, I finally came to know my test. Still far to roam, I had in me, or it was to return home, when I left it was for thus, But coming home is a must. As I had roamed near and far, at home I found my shining star. We left on scout in enemy lands, and narrowly avoid their clawing hands. On way back we came to worlds end, so I had one more promise to contend. To you, Epatch my life's soulmate, To you I go to any fate. To take you up out of the mud, and add you to my families blood._

As they circled higher and higher, CusiiNoth's song ended, and they could go no higher. At that point they both embraced, locking together tails, wings, legs, and mouths as they fell. They fell for a full ten minutes, all the while franticly mating in the air as they fell. Panting, moaning, groaning and roaring were the only intelligible sounds coming from their mouths. When they, at long last drew near to the ground, they disengaged and landed at the waterfall, taking deep draughts as their hearts slowed down.

"Thank you," CusiiNoth said.

Epatch answered with a sly smile, "Your welcome, may we do it many times over."

With a seductive smile, he said "With pleasure."

"That's really how it happened?" Natasatch asked. She had received the story with mind pictures, as always. His song was beautiful, she thought.

"It is, and it's how we got our two treasures."

Natasatch had gotten treasure before; it was a metallic yellow or a silver colored disk most of the time. All she knew, was that it built a thick layer of saliva in her mouth whenever she saw or smelled it.

"Were not treasures though," Natasatch said.

Mother replied," not all treasure is silver and gold, child." Natasatch didn't know what to think of that, so she changed the subject. "Where are father and Cusiihoth." She was so entranced by mothers story that she failed to notice anyone had left.

"They are on a hunt," mother said, "Cusiihoth is far behind on hunting than you."

Natasatch had just finished a hunt a few hours ago with mother, hunting slugs in the cavern. They didn't make much of a meal, but with a hungry hatchlings appetite you took what you could get. At that moment Cusiihoth and father chose to return. Her brother was full of energy, whipping around this place and that with the speed of a snake."How was your first day in the upper world, champion?" mother asked in an amused voice.

"It was the most wonderful thing I have ever seen," he said with a jump from the ground to the shelf.

They went to sleep that night with tales of the upper world.

**Authors note: Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out, I have been busy with chapter later on in the book. Don't forget to Favorite, Review, and post your thoughts in a P.M.**


	4. Chapter 4:Organizing a deal

**To my viewers, I am sorry this chapter took so long to get out, I will try an follow through with weekly updates to the chapters. But what mostly kept me busy was an old story a friend is letting me take over for him, Thanks Unseen Fury. Anyway, this ones pretty long so enjoy. Remember to like/favorite/review.**

The elvish hunting party rounded the bend in the canyon to behold a wonder of nature and dwarvish engineering. Thuls Hardhold lay stretched out across the Ba-Drink Lake. Mounting Spires, sweeping towers, and chiseled cliff apartments dazzled in the approaching sunlight. The proud banners of the Wheel of Fire dwarves fluttered above the enormous Titan Bridge. Swampgaze and Charmungur looked on with Hazeleye at the beauty of it all. The vale had an unearthly, manmade wonder that made anyone who looked at it stop and gape in wonder and amazement. The only other place on the inland ocean to achieve higher than the Ba-Drink was the fabled Lavadome of Legend, Ancestral home of the Dragons.

"Lets move," Swampgaze yelled. "I want everybody to square their gear away and stop for high noon meal." All of the elves gratefully dropped their packs at the sound. Their long trip into the Red mountains looking for potential hatchlings had mentally and physically fatigued them. The meal was short and simple. Many just had bread with a little old cheese, or a bit of dried meat and fruit. Only an hour later the elves had packed all loose gear away, and stowed their personal belongings. They set off towards Thuls Hardhold at a fast walk, eager to get a warm bed that night. The landscape swept by beside them, birds calling, elk grazing, and the smell of wood smoke on the breeze. To an elf, it is the feeling of home, comfortable in nature as they were. All too soon, they came upon the city. The Gates were made of solid Iron, and the stone walls had over three hundred ballista stationed along its length. Patrolling all over it, in groups of two or three, were gleaming spear and sword points held by stout dwarves in glittering steel helmets. The city was constantly at a battle ready status because of all the enemies they had accumulated. They had many Nations of men who were jealous of their wealth, but another enemy had revealed itself to them as they sent out scouting parties to look for potential caves that held dragons. Hatchling were in very high demand because some group of men calling themselves the Andam had been buying them and shipping them to a remote Island in the middle of the Inland Ocean. The Andams belief was that it was men's destiny to rule the world, and that all other races were conspiring to kill them off. Word was that some wizard had found a way to breed dragons and needed hatchlings to perform experiments.

"Well," charmungur thought, "If you believe such stories," which he didn't. The party rode through the gates, many of the guards throwing back greetings with the Elves. Swampgaze was well known in this city for his fierce gamboling habits, and his want for gold. At least, that was how many saw it. They looked at the elves as if they were mad, for truly you must be crazy to hunt dragon hatchlings, right?

They made their way to their usual Inn of choice, The Dappled Dwarf. It was a clean livly place with warm beds, warmer food, and ale that set ones head pleasantly spinning. The innkeeper, a knarled old man who looked very angry and haughty looked up.

"Welcome, young masters," he said with much enthusiasm. "Will it be the usual?

Swampgaze smiled at him and replied, "Yes, and put in a round of drinks." The elves around let out a roar at the sound of a good drink after their long journey. The Innkeepers name was Gerald, and as long as you didn't bias on looks, he was a splendid man to talk and play cards with. He turned and walked into the kitchen, issuing orders to his staff.

"It will be ready in about a half hour," he said. "If you want, young sirs, you can go to your usual rooms and freshen up.

"Yes," Swampgaze said. "I think we will all do just that. Then, addressing his fellow elves, said, "You may all go and do as you wish for the next few days while I request an interview with Gobold. But be ready to move out within a week." Several elves nodded at this, and went back to their revelries. Swampgaze took charmungur and drove him into the corner of the room.

"I am leaving you in charge, and Hazeleye in second. I must leave for the councilor now, watch your back in this city. There are many who would wish you harm here." The young elf only nodded to Swampgaze before they both retreated to their rooms. Charmungur could not get to sleep no matter what he did. All he could think about was waiting assassins at his doorstep. He finally fell into an exhausted sleep after the sun began to show its face. Swampgaze was already up and around at that hour. Word had arrived from the fortress that he was to meet with Gobold after midmorning. Swampgaze drank his tea gratefully, murmuring thanks to the innkeeper as he left. Swampgaze waited until a bell before midmorning to make his way to Titan Bridge. He passed by many dwarves in the streets, Shopkeepers, Bakers, Smiths of all sorts, and Soldiers making their rounds. He watched all of them closely, suspicious that they would try and stick a knife between his ribs. The entire trip went without incident, and Swampgaze quickly found himself at the foothold to Titan Bridge.  
"Halt!" A voice shouted. "Who goes there?" Swampgaze lifted his head to the stranger, and showed his pass. The Dwarf soldier nodded and said, "Forgive me, I did not recognize you." Then to his fellow men at arms," Open the gate!" The gates to Titan Bridge lifted, and Swampgaze walked across at a swift walk. A herald of Gobold showed him into a large meeting hall off the main entry to Thuls Hardhold. The main entry hall was lavishly decorated. Banners of defeated opponents flew from the wall, lining each side almost completely. Supports and arches held up the roof, while small fountains worked with gold decorated the side of the path. The path itself was made out of fine Jade, startling green in contrast to the reds and yellows of the hall. Swampgaze thanked the herald, and waited for about half an hour, when a wide dwarf arrayed in both dressing robes, and battle armor walk in and sat down. Swampgaze nodded his head to Gobold, who only slightly tilted his head in response.

"How was your trip to the Red Mountains, and what did you find."

Gobold had a rather raspy voice when he just woke up, Swampgaze thought to himself. "Our expedition had a very profitably run. We discovered two possible nests, one to a newly mated pair, and the other to what we believe to those traitorous ones we spoke of." Gobold leaned forward at that, and took an even more serious look then when he mentioned that they found nests. " Are you sure?"

Yes, their description matched perfectly, they have taken the old Blighter caves they fought to achieve for us. The other cave is about two days walk from there. We know the traitors have at least three dragons in their clutch, hard to say for the second."

Gobold looked at him thoughtfully," What information have you based this off of?"

Swampgaze answered truthfully, "We don't know for certain, but the bronze and blue males are bringing back only enough food to feed four Dragons. I am no expert on Dragons, bu-."

"Nobody is anymore," the dwarf said, "I believe you, you always were reliable in you scouting. I will sign the sanction immediately, but I want you to put the Hatchlings under Hazeleye's care until they make it to the Isle of Ice. Got it? The last time you brought me hatchlings, two died from lack of experienced handlers."

Swampgaze didn't like Hazeleye that much, she cared about the beasts too much for his taste, "I understand perfectly, sir. I shall begin preparations immediately." Gobold called after him as he stood up, "Make sure that you have them, last time it cost us twelve chests of silver, and six of gold. If you fail, the council will have my head, understand?"

Swampgaze gave a small smile, "Have I ever let you down?"

"No," Gobold said, "But I would hate for you to push you luck." The dwarf sniggered at some hidden joke, and dismissed Swampgaze. They were to meet again at the end of the week. Gobold staggered off in the direction of the mead hall. He knew Gobold didn't mean what he said; he just had to act that way because of all the prying ears nearby. He wanted them to meet again both to hear what his plan was, and to spend some time with one of his best friends. Swampgaze moved from the council chamber and walked down the hall. Many of the other council members were giving him disgusted looks as he passed, which was mostly due to the fact that he didn't come to them for the Dragon hatchlings. Many had thought he was crazy when he said he wanted funding to hunt dragons, they didn't believe someone actually wanted them. He saw almost every council dwarf at the council table, and almost all of them had laughed their faces off. But not Gobold. Gobold had been on the receiving end of Dragon treachery, he immediately got up and vouched to fund the mission. The first had proved only slightly successful, they got two hatchlings, but at the cost of over sixty men. Swampgaze and his party had delivered over thirty hatchlings to the Isle of Ice, and the so-called wizard had paid them dearly. Swampgaze passed a serving dwarf in the hall, and tapped him on the shoulder, "Excuse me, but would you happen to know where Gobolds Mercenary group is at?"

The dwarf looked at Swampgaze as if he had lost his mind, but only for a second. The mercenary Dragon hunters were widely known, but only within the Wheel of Fire.

"Yes, sir. If you will follow me, I will take you to them. Sorry about the look, it's just that most people who live in our city know where to find them is all. They were the ones who helped fight off that great red so many years ago."

"Thank you," was all Swampgaze said. The serving Dwarf kept up a continuous stream of chatter that would make the birds drop in boredom.

"The council will be electing a new captain for the border province. It's important to keep relations with our neighbors so we don't have to deal with enemies near and far. Plus most of our food that isn't shipped in is grown from around that area of the Ba-Drink, If everyone didn't think about that as much as they do, our enemies would surly have us in a bad spot. When rations become scarce, we dwarves will start to live off anything. There is a saying, Stiff-necked as a dwarf. There could be nothing closer to the truth than this, we care as much about our honor as our cousins, The Chartered company dwarves. They look down on us for being too warmonger, and we look down on them for being too civilized. There are times when one must defend himself with blades, not words." And many other useless bits of details that Swampgaze did not give a care about. He led Swampgaze into the deep caverns of the mountain; many did not go past that point as it was the command point for the Dwarves forces. The dwarf herald walked past numerous doorways leading who knows where. Finally the fat dwarf took him to a small room where a group of thirty or so dwarves lounged, smoking and drinking, all the while playing dice, and yelling out in anger or happiness depending on how the game was going. The herald bowed and departed with nothing more said other than a murmured, "Sir." Swampgaze hardly paid attention to him though, he had his eyes on a rather large, burly dwarf who's shouts usually dwindled out the rest. Swampgaze gave a small smile to himself as the dwarf stumbled through the crowd to a chair, spilling much of the mead he had brought with him. This, of course, was Orik Stormbringer. He was the leading commander of the "Dragon Hunters", as he styled them. As they looked right now, they could hardly be seen as anything but alcoholic dwarves who had a bit of coin to spend. Swampgaze got up and made his way over to Oriks table. As he passed, each and every one of the conversations died out as they watched him pass their table. Swampgaze felt a little unnerved as they watched him with no recognition whatsoever. This was due only to the fact that they were drunk beyond belief and had probably forgot their entire night by now. As he reached Oriks table, he paused and waited until the dwarf saw him.

"Ahh," he said with a drunken splurge, "It be'ish thra elfsh and hish company to call upon ush to defeat a mighty dragon!" He shouted out to all the dwarves assembled, and they all let out a roar that even rivaled a dragon. Swampgaze laughed and said,

"Orik, my friend, you have clearly not spent all your coin on mead and beer, have you? In any case, we should meet again tomorrow for business instead of now on account of your condition, eh?"

Orik looked at him happily, "Most right, master elfsh. Right now I can barly see straight, let alone blunder my way down the hall. But enough about business, come and join the festivities, they are as grand as ever tonight." Swampgaze looked at all of the assembled dwarves before sitting in the offered seat. Someone tried to give him a cup of dwarvish ale, but after what he had seen tonight he wanted nothing to do with the liquor. It was almost as bad as the Humans rum that their sailors used. At least there wasn't anyone who had black, rotting teeth in the assembly, which proved that dwarves had very high hygiene standards even among elves. Swampgaze took a seat and joined in the topic of a story.

"I just heard this amazing story about the bravery of the Wheel of Fire, if you wish to hear it." Many dwarves jumped up and clamored for him to continue, even Orik who had the best head for such nonsense.

"Behold, then Dwarves of the Wheel of Fire, The story of how you beat back the Great Dragon AuRye the red!" The dwarves all silenced for the story to begin, for who was a better bard than an elf? Swampgaze began his tale in earnest. "And so began the great age of the mighty Dwarven empires…

Swampgaze told the story long into the night, telling it much better, in his opinion, than the bard from the previous week. He told the tale long into the night, both exciting, and subduing his audience with the fantastic tale that he told. When the tale was finished, many of the dwarves were asleep, and those that weren't wouldn't last another five minutes. Swampgaze himself felt haggard with the long story he had told. He was not used to reciting anything for so long, as he had only once before tried it. A few other like thoughts went through his head as he drifted off to sleep. He woke up hours later to find dwarves shaking themselves clean from the floor or washing dried ale out of their beards. He found Orik waiting in a line to relieve himself. He had regained most of his posture from the previous night, and could clearly think more clearly after a long nights res. Though, he probably felt as if someone had dropped a good sized piece of masonry on his head. Spotting him waiting beside the line, Orik waved him over.

"Swampgaze my friend, it is good to see you after so many weeks. It has been quiet boring for the duration of your leave, and I have had little to do but look forward to your return." Swampgaze laughed and replied, "It is good to see you too, my friend. I know that I have been gone for a long time, longer than normal, but I had a very promising find, which I will tell you about when we are somewhere more private." The last was directed at the assembled dwarves who gathered to hear about his expedition. Swampgaze found himself waiting for longer than he had planned. After relieving himself, Orik went to bathe and get fresh clothes, then fill out some paperwork concerning a theft in the market. Bored, Swampgaze decided to leave and walk through the city for a bit before going to speak with Orik. The city of the Wheel of Fire still held Swampgaze's fancy even though he had been there hundreds of times. Maybe it was just the wonder of a manmade structure that almost rivaled even the great Red Mountains. Though this city dwindled in comparison to the delvings of the Chartered company. But they were a more peaceful dwarvish population, though they were the most deadly when aroused for war. Their scientists had invented many strange machines for mining and warfare. As Swampgaze's thoughts roamed, his body knew not where it was going, and after a few moments he was jarred from his reverie when he almost tripped on a bit of rope someone left in the street. He dimly noticed that it was almot midday already. "_Orik must be running late,"_ he thought to himself. He was getting hungry again, so he bought a small honey pie from a nearby vendor and ate it on the side of the street. Finished, he began to try and work his way to the northern side of the city. He knew he was somewhere close to the eastern wall, so he made a trip westward to try and make it to the main road. Along the way, he passed through the city's residential district, noting that many of the houses had been custom designed. Which led him to walking past a small house with golden dragonscale lining the roof, a copper dragonscale door, and a mailbox that looked to made of bone, though he didn't know exactly what animal, he could make a good guess. This had to be the Dragonblades home, where he and his family dwelt when not burdened with other duties. He had heard rumors about his house, but they seemed shallow in comparison to this. The foundations, he noted, were made of the finest stone masonry that gold could buy. It looked like a homely little place, though it was no doubt heavily fortified and soundly built, and most likely held an underground fallout bunker in case of a Dragon attack. He made a note to summon the Dragonblade to his meeting with Gobold later that week to try and enlist his skills. As it turned out, he didn't have to wander all the way over the city to find Orik. A young dwarf with hardly a hair on his chin came up and said, "Orik, of the Dragon Hunters requests your presence, master Swampgaze." He appeared to be a young dwarf who was at his first real line of work.

"Do lead on then, my good dwarf," Swampgaze said. The young dwarf hurriedly walk him up to the main road, and proceeded to take him once again deep into the mountain to Oriks favorite spot. Once he showed him inside Oriks voice said," Thank you Kobb, you may leave now." Kobb bowed his head and left without another word. Orik heaved a sigh and sat down at the table, motioning for Swampgaze to sit next to him.

"There are some days when I wish I still had the Adventurers freedom."

"How can you say that?" Swampgaze asked. "You have enough gold to build yourself a small fort for you and your family in retirement."

"Yes, but all the worries of the people, Every time someone sees a bird flying far off, they report it to me and demand us to go kill a 'Dragon'. It wears on you after awhile, but no matter. I have no wish to talk of my struggles, I would hear of your recent trip to the Red Mountains. Anything worth smiting out there?"

Swampgaze smiled, he too did not want to talk about troublesome dwarves. "Yes, since you ask, we had a very promising trip." Oriks eyes lit up as he continued.

"First, when we set out for the Red Mountains, we went into every Inn along the road to hear any rumors of Dragons. Nothing there, so we continued on past the town of Sarsmyouth, where we heard an interesting tidbit. Men had seen a great bronze dragon a few days back that had raided a single sheep from a far-out field. Others claim that farther out, a blue Dragon keeps coming and going from the ridge every two or three days. We set out that direction, instead of continuing along the Inland Ocean. We passed through the lands of that elf who owns the bridge, along with Mossbell. We asked him about Dragons, but the only anomaly he had about the land was a ravenous Troll that fed off his goat herds. After about a month of traveling, we came across the sight of a bronze Dragon carrying several deer. That was confirmation to us, Either he had an incredible appetite for a Dragon his age, or he had hatchlings to feed. We went with the latter because he wasn't fat, and flew with grace. We followed him back to his cave, and along the way we saw the dark blue Dragon the men talked about. He too carried an overlarge amount of food for his age, and was in shape. We split the party up, me along with four others would scope out the bronze, the other five would sniff out the blue. We got confirmation very soon for both that hatchlings were on the way. We immediately turned for the Vale and Thuls Hardhold."

Orik looked at him in awe, two sets in one trip! Such a thing has not been heard of, what will you do?"

Swampgaze thought for a moment. I am going to have a meeting with Gobold in a few days, you should be present for that, and also I want the Dragonblade there as well. Such a task as taking on four full grown Dragons needs an expert at its side to direct us." Swampgaze finished the sentence with a sigh. He hoped the Dragonblade would accept, though he had the upmost confidence in his hunters and Oriks, four full grown Dragons was just too much for them to handle. After finishing up Swampgaze's summary of the trip, they moved on to more pleasant converse. They caught up on each other's lives while they were away, and Orik admitted he was to be married very soon. Swampgaze expressed his gratitude for him, and promised to be there at the wedding, which was to take place in two months, plenty of time for him to go there and back. Swampgaze looked at the position of the sun, and with a start, realized it was no longer up. He made his excuse to Orik that he wanted to go to sleep, and with a hearty handshake they departed. Swampgaze returned to The Dappled Dwarf, and went to his room. He fell asleep thinking about his friend's future.

The next day, Swampgaze woozily woke up to the ringing of a church bell, its noisy ring bouncing off the cities walls and buildings. He looked out at the city, noticing the position of the sun he swore to himself. It was almost midday and he had not gotten up yet. Of course he had been up late into the night talking to Orik, so it was to expected he was tired. He got up and went directly to the mirror in front of the dresser, upon which he proceeded to make sure he was presentable, though he would have to take a bath after breakfast as he didn't have time for one yet. Presentable, he walked out to the dining hall, where Gerald was quickly rushing about issuing orders to a set of servants, or tasting various dishes being cooked for the midday rush. Gerald looked up as he entered and smiled, "Slept a bit late did we? Are you feeling well, master Swampgaze?"

"Yes," Swampgaze said looking at Gerald peculiarly. "I was just up late catching up with old friends is all."

"Aye, I know what you mean. When I and my fellow warriors fought at the Black gates, we used to stay up long into the night talking about what might happen and our future. Though, I guess we were almost always scared that something was going to happen to us at any given moment, Raging Dragon, or Charging Demen, we were frightened out of our wits." He gave a laugh then, as he remembered old times with his troops.

"Has a message arrived for me, Innkeeper?" Swampgaze was waiting for a summons from Gobold to speak of their upcoming expedition.

"I'm afraid not sir, hasn't been any mail all day." Swampgaze sighed and continued on with his morning tasks. So passed a bleak three days. Swampgaze would get up, take a bath, eat and wander the city for the rest of the day. Charmungur and Hazeleye both shared in his unease as they too, had nothing to do but wait. It was upon the fifth day after arrival that Gobold summoned them to the council chambers. Swampgaze wanted Hazeleye there as his advisor, as she was to care after the hatchlings should they procure any. The wait was not as long as it was before, they waited for all of about thirty seconds before being ushered in by a Dwarf assistant. It was the same, sparsely decorated room as before, only now it held two elves, two dwarves, and an exceedingly tall man in Dragonscale armor.

"Welcome all, and thank you for coming," Gobold said," We have much to discus." Everyone took a seat at the large twelve seat table.

"Our good friend Swampgaze here has the run down of what he wants done. You have the floor, Swampgaze. Swampgaze stood, and looked at the assembled crowd, then he slowly began to tell the group the discoveries they made in the Red Mountains. It took the better part of an hour, but he finally relayed every detail he had noticed about everything, the Dragons, the terrain, the size of the caves, and even the number of trees growing. He laid out a roughly drawn map of the area in front of the two caves.

"The only thing we don't have is a map of the interior caverns, so we will be flying blind from that point onward." The Dragonblade looked up from the map.

"how many Dragons can we count on to fight at the same time for each cave?" It was a serious question, and Swampgaze saw the reason behind it; They could not take on more than two fully grown dragons. One was a calamity, two might just be manageable if they had more war machines and Dwarves, But three just couldn't be managed by their small party of thirty.

Swampgaze looked at the map, and pointed to the mark where the cave entrance stood, "In each cave we saw only two male Dragons. However they both hunted way more than they needed, which leads me to believe that there must be at least three or four hatchlings in each cave. Two sets of guardians, two sets of treasure. We have those portable war machines with us, the ones we can take apart in under a moment. We need to go in hard and fast, but also preserve stealth for as long as possible, got it?"

Gobold and Orik were whispering to each other as they listened. Gobold looked skeptical, but Orik look convinced. After all Swampgaze was in a better place to judge the habits even more than the Dragonblade.

A voice spoke up from the left side of the room, and everyone went quiet. The voice emitted from Gobold, who was trying his best not to sound doubtful, "While your information is good, we may need harder evidence before we can do anything." He walked in a circle around th table, muttering to himself as if lost in thought.

"Do you trust me, Gobold?"

"Why, of course I do, your judgment is the best we have on Dragons right now."

Swampgaze nodded at he praise and continued, "Then trus me on this, there are hatchlings in those caves, I am sure of it. We will come back with hatchlings, or gold to repay you. Just wait."

Gobold finally heaved in and signed the sanction warrant.

He handed the papers to Swampgaze and stamped his seal on them. The Dragonblade looked pleased with the result, how could he not. He was paid to kill the most loathsome creature on earth. Lots of gold in comparison to a regular night. He was paid like a prince from the Sunstruck Sea kingdoms.

Swampgaze nodded to Gobold and said, "We will come back successful in about a fortnight. Look to us on the coming of the first of November, look to the rising sun, for our victory shall have the sun at our backs, if this pulls through. Gobold said nothing, but looked at Swampgaze with a face that didn't betray his emotions.

"I want you to come back with eggs if you can, hatchlings if you can't. The 'wizard' on that Island offered me double the price for eggs, healthy females, and grays. I don't want you to bargain with the Dragons this time either, just put them to sleep with the new poison darts. If you can't then kill them, but I would rather see this task finished without losing half the Hunters again. Now, what did you have in mind for Hazeleye and Charmungur?" That triggered a surprised huff from Hazeleye, and an amused smile from the Dragonblade, who was still poring over the rough map.

"How did you know?"Swampgaze asked, surprised. Gobold let out a booming laugh, "You wouldn't bring her," he said throwing a finger in the direction of Hazeleye, "Unless it was important. And as for Charmungur, he is practically Hazeleye's pet in her schemes. Well go on, out with it." He smiled as Swampgaze looked at him crossly.

"Hazeleye is here because she wants to take charge of the Dragon's hatchlings after acquiring them."

The two dwarves looked at each other stunned. Dwarven women did not partake in missions like this, they regularly fought, but they didn't mix with Dragon slaying much. They began to ask numerous questions about whether she could even fight, or if she would run from the dragons in fight before they even drew fire. They were so outraged by it that they began to shout, and yell at the top of their lungs, each trying to override the other. They only stopped when a large scaled fist hit the table, leaving a large dent two inches into the table and leaving scale-tears in the wood. The Dragonblade nodded to Hazeleye and Charmungur, allowing them to speak. Before Swampgaze could tell them why, Hazeleye spoke to the Dwarves.

"First of all, you blathering idiots, I'm not just some run of the mill damsel who needs the brave and strong hero to rescue he. I am Hazeleye, THE Hazeleye. It was me who continues the work of Islebreadth the wise. The great scholar of Dragons title had been imparted with her, when she died she passed that title to me. Not only did she teach me everything she knew, but It was I who met the ancient NooMoahk the Black of legend, not she. He taught me things about Dragons you could not even begin to understand. I am the most knowledgeable Dragon-scholar on earth right now, only a dragon could tell you more. What's more is I traveled all over the land finishing her book of Dragons. I had to defend myself and Islebreadth on more than one occasion. In short, I can take care of myself."

The dwarves just looked at her with startled eyes, staring at her for the longest of time, until they were shaken out of their reverie by the dragonblades booming laughter.

"Well, gentlemen, I do believe we found ourselves a dragon handler. Would you not agree?"

"Enough, This has gone on long enough, I want you to move out and prepare for the journey now."

Swampgaze nodded to everyone assembled, then he and Hazeleye both left the meeting, with Orik and the Dragonblade following close behind.

"I want you both to be packed and ready to leave by morning. Orik, assemble the Hunters, Hazeleye get horses or ponies along with three wagons. He held out the slip of paper that contained the warrant. She nodded and took it, it would get them all the supplies they needed for the quest. The Dragonblade said, "It will take me but an hour to assemble my gear and say goodbye, I will join you shortly."

Swampgaze nodded and returned to The Dappled Dwarf. His things were already packed up, so he arranged them to face the wall, and roused all the other elves in his party. He paid the innkeeper, thanked him and went back upstairs just as the plodding of the wagons drew up. He gathered his things and walked down. Already his elves were putting all their belongings into the Empty cart. The cart on Swampgaze's left was also empty as it would hold the Dwarven hunters weapons and siege engines that would be put together. The last cart held over two months food in it, all dried for transport and easy keeping. The Hunters arrived soon afterword, depositing all their gear on the first wagon in line. They then proceeded to sharpen and polish their personal weapons to a deadly gleam. Hazeleye at last came with a fourth wagon filled with various base materials.

"Just in case a wagon breaks down or we need extra tents made." Hazeleye said.

Swampgaze turned sour on the inside, "Good work Hazeleye, what about those horses?"

There weren't enough for all of us, as the main herds are kept in a field two days march in the opposite direction." _Fine,_ he thought to himself,_ This will add an extra two weeks to traveling time, but we'll make it._ As they packed everything up, the sun began to lay her face across the Ba-Drink. Her warm rays of light made Swampgaze feel like there was much ahead of them in their journey, but they would face great success in their endeavor. But as they began to move out, a few Dwarves were muttering among themselves. He only caught one word passed back and forth between them. "_Dssol…Dssol…Dssol…Dssol…Dssol. This isn't a good sign,_ His thoughts quickly turned dark. _Dssol_ was the Dwarvish word for Evil Star. Something wasn't right on the Horizon, and he felt there was a swift darkness settling upon them. He never knew how right he was.


	5. Chapter 5: Journey towards Damnation

"Ready! Step! Move!" Came the loudly shouted command, and the entire caravan of Dragon hunters moved away from the city gates. There was many a murmur, especially among the Dwarves, about leaving the comforts of home behind them, but it was now too late to turn back. Not that any of the Hunters thought badly of the hunt itself, in fact they were iron-bellied to the prospect of a good Dragon hunt, they just didn't want to leave their home for the undying wilderness from here to the red mountains. The company would move along the main road until they passed a large bridge spanning one of the many nameless rivers leading to the Inland ocean. The bridge was kept by a gentle sort of elf who would not overcharge them for crossing. He ran the estate which managed all traffic along the bridge, but its main money scheme was horse breeding. The estate itself, called Mossbell, was an ancient home that the elf's ancestors had passed down from generation to generation in service to ancient Hypat. From there they would branch off from the main road at the foot of the Red Mountains, traveling along the river until they reached the two caves where their investment lay. Once the hatchlings were contained, they would move along the river until they reached Juutfod, home of the Dragon tower, in service to the mysterious wizard on the even more mysterious Isle of Ice. They would tell the tower of their haul and catch the next ship to the Isle, and then meet with the wizard for the third time in Hazeleye's memory to sell the hatchlings. Hazeleye was in the command pavilion one night, poring over the maps that were laid out. Charmungur and Swampgaze were speaking in hushed voices outside the tent, though about what Hazeleye could only guess. Hazeleye liked the young elf, but he had too much bravado. Charmungur should never have embarked upon this quest. Hazeleye was forced to do it because of her deal with Gobold. Gobold himself was on this expedition because they had found the refuge of a pair of traitorous Dragons who had robbed the wheel of fire.

_Stupid dwarves, they will think that any advantage they give to a client is a cheat. It's no wonder they needed me for this expedition._ Hazeleye thought to herself. She was the only one on both sides of the Red Mountains beside the wizard who knew great knowledge on Dragons. Bus Hazeleye doubted even the wizard, Wrimere was his name, she remembered, knew as much as she did. For she had lived for months with the ancient Dragon of old, the black might of time, NooMoahk the black. He went so far back as to the time when the blighter kingdoms of Uldam and Gormathara had ruled the axis of the world. He alone with Tindairruss had defeated the black wizard Anklamere, and vanquished his minions. He had also allowed Hazeleye to stay in his keep, mostly, she thought, because he was lonely and wanted someone to talk to. Hazeleye looked back with fondness upon that moment of her life, as she had been most happy when Dragons were around and talking to her. Hazeleye was sitting with her eyes closed, over the maps looking as if she was sleeping. She immediately opened her eyes when the tent flap was thrown aside, and Hazeleye was drawn out of her reverie.

"I'll leave the talking to you." Swampgaze said, before promptly leaving Hazeleye and Charmungur alone. Charmungur had an excited look on his face that betrayed his emotion.

"Well," Hazeleye said, "What do you have to tell me?"

Charmungur, practically bubbling in excitement, said, "Swampgaze has given command of the second hunting group to me. When we reach the split off point, I'm going to lead the raid against the other Dragons while you guys go after the traitorous ones." His voice nearly broke into a shout as he finished. Hazeleye was confused in her mind. _Why would you be excited for that? If anything he should be worried, he's too young for such a task._ While Hazeleye didn't think him incapable, she just thought he needed more experience in life before going up against the most powerful creature on earth.

"I am happy for you, Charmungur, you should do well as a lieutenant.""  
"Not lieutenant, Captain!" He said, pride again making him stutter in his speech.

That was odd. Not only had he just flown past Hazeleye in rank, but he had just outstripped everyone except Swampgaze and the Dragonblade.

"Good for you!" She said without really meaning it. "well, since you are going to run the next squad, you're going to need some training to care for the hatchlings." Hazeleye wasn't at all jealous, she would rather have been studying Dragons for her next book than hunting their hatchlings, but her contract would not yield.

Charmungur looked doubtfully at Hazeleye. How could he tell her that he thought her feeling toward Dragons were misplaced and foolish. _Just do it._ His mind said to him. _Tell her how it is, stick to her!_ "Well, Hazeleye…"

"Yes? What is it?"

"Well… To be frank… Your ideas toward Dragons are somewhat… foolish… you think you know everything just because you spent a few years with a kindly senile old Dragon." Charmungur felt good that he had finally told her this. With his new rank, he no longer had to fear a smack from her anymore. He could, however, punish her at any insult. Hazeleye, on the other hand, couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had trained Charmungur for the last fourteen years that he had been living in the company of Swampgaze's hunters. She had taught him the sea-elf beliefs so he could better understand Dragons. They were feral creature, not to be messed with as they were doing.

"Why are you acting like this?" Hazeleye asked.

"Because I no longer have to fear talking to you about how foolish your Ideas are. The Dragonblade was right, Dragons should be eradicated from this earth. You yourself have seen firsthand how deadly they can be in the presence of Hominids." He was close to shouting now, so angry, he realized that he may have gone too far this time. But at the moment he didn't care, he was starting to learn about his place, and the place of Dragons in this world. A deep hole dug into the most remote land possible.

Hazeleye just looked at him, neither saying a word, nor turning away in defeat, as he expected her to do. _Why can't she see the Dragonblade has the best way to stop the menace?_

Hazeleye abruptly started talking in A quiet, serious tone that suggested he listen, no matter what Rank he was.

"You know, I thought there was something different about you. When you were younger you always had a deep fascination with Dragons, not at all un-similar to my own feelings at your age. I followed Islebreadth through hell and back to get the information we needed. When no one else wanted you, I brought you to the hunters so you would have a place. I had planned to get you out as soon as possible, but then you found that Dragonblade fellow. He filled you ever thought since you found out about him. I'm not trying to teach you about Dragons so that you can become a more efficient killer of them. I'm trying to teach you that they were here first, they allowed the hominids to live here, and it was them who fought off Anklamere and saved this blasted world. Yet you speak of anger towards them, how they have wronged us. Well, let me give you the hard truth Charmungur. WE. HAVE. NO. RIGHT. TO. BE. HERE. If you want to waste your life fighting Dragons, then so be it." Hazeleye walked up to the Dragonblade, and calmly started speaking to him for a few moments.

Charmungur, left to wander with his thoughts, kept going over their conversation again and again. Charmungur just couldn't figure out why she hadn't accepted the Dragonsblade's idea of killing off Dragons. It seemed absurd that she should care for them. Charmungur watched as Hazeleye passed several gold coins to the Dragonblade, they exchanged nods, and then Hazeleye traveled back over to him.

"Well, since you are hell-bent on carrying out this hair brained adventure, then at least go with my blessings. But know this, You shall not get any more help from me. Do you hear?" Hazeleye sounded hurt more than anything else, so Charmungur said, "Yes."

Hazeleye nodded in a grim way, "Good, now that you understand, Report to the Dragonblade at dawn tomorrow morning, very early." Charmungur just stood there. "GO!"

Charmungur scrambled off to bed, not really hungry that night. Orik and Gobold would take the first watch tonight, and swap with him after twelve. Whatever might be said about Gobold, he certainly got the job done.

Charmungur woke early the next morning, as he was tasked to do, and got dressed. He walked into the forest a little ways away from the camp and relieved himself. He was walking back when, from behind him, he heard the whoosh of something flying through the air. Charmungur immediately ducked and pulled out his dagger. He was about to turn and face his opponent, but as he did, something hit him in the stomach like a heavy rock at high speed.

Charmungur fell over and looked up to see the Dragonblade pulling one of his gauntlets tighter on his hand.

"Quick thinking, that should serve you well. We know you can act on your feet, now we need to test how good you are with your choice of weapon and work on your speed." Said the Dragonblade.

Charmungur wheezed and got up, not without a good deal of difficulty. "Is this going to be a morning thing, because I don't want to wake up every morning to a surprise attack while I take a piss."

"I am sorry, its just that I had to see how you handle pressure. All in all you did good, I expected you to run away, not step closer."

"Lucky me," Charmungur said.

Their morning started off with more reflex testing, then swordplay. Crossing swords with someone who hunted and killed Dragons regularly for a living, and had been doing so for at least fifteen years didn't do much for morale. Still, Charmungur was not untrained with a blade, and was able to block two of the Dragonblade's attacks. Then the Dragonblade started to score hits on him with lightning fast speed, left right up and down. The force behind the blows was tremendous, and Charmungur was forced to submit after a score of hits. Then breakfast would begin and they would stop to eat. Shorty afterwards the entire camp would start on the road again, going the estimated thirty-five miles for the day. Even such a small company made slow headway, it would be at least a month before they reached their destination, and, charmungur realized, at least a month of nonstop training.

So began their days. Charmungur got up and practiced swordplay with the Dragonblade and learned how to deal with different kinds of situations dealing with different kinds of Dragons. He had killed scores upon scores of Dragons, and was an expert on all except Black and grey. While on the road, the Dragonblade would teach him Drakine, so he could parley with a Dragon should the need arise. The routine continued every day for the next month, up until they reached the foothills of the Red Mountains, whereupon they encounter two Dragons, flying overhead at different times, which sent the whole column into the cover of trees. They lost four horses to the Dragons, but managed to stick the bronze one with a _highpoon _and several arrows. The sapphire blue one was cannier, making off with another two horses in the dead of morning, starling everyone at Dawn with his surprise presence as he carried off the screaming horse.

Two days after the attacks they came to the crossroad point. The hunters were in the middle of thick wooded country, at a small clearing. Now was the time that Charmungur would take half the dwarves and split off the main group to the second family of Dragons.

Charmungur had not seen much of Hazeleye in their trip. She had kept well clear of anyone walking past her, and often rode scout ahead of them to tell of the places they could rest for the night.

Charmungur was packing all his things up from his bare tent, he was moving on with his party in the morning so he wanted to be packed well before then. He had just finished packing when the entrance flap to his tent was thrust aside with the sound of ripping fabric. Charmungur turned around to find Hazeleye standing in front of him, holding a small canvas bag in her hands.

Charmungur looked warily from her to the bag, wondering why she was here. "Hazeleye. W-why are you here…"

"Relax, Charmungur. I just wanted to say goodbye. I know that you are going to be gone for at least another month and I may not see you again…so…"

Charmungur understood her even though she couldn't finish the sentence. "It's alright, Hazeleye. Will you forgive me for how I treated you? I know it was stupid and foolish to act that way, especially since you practically raised me after My family deserted me."

"Please, just shut up and come here." Hazeleye set her bag aside and beckoned for him to come over. Charmungur did as was asked and held out his arm to shake, but was taken aback when Hazeleye rushed him and threw her arms out around him. At first he resisted, but then realized that it might be the last time he saw his best friend. He immediately hugged her back.

"Make sure you come back alive, okay. It wont be the same around her without you." Hazeleye seemed close to tears as she let go.

"Don't worry Hazeleye, were all going to be back together in the hunting band for next time, right. Just wait, come next season were both going to be laughing our heads off. You'll see."

"Actually, I wont."

"What do you mean?" Charmungur asked.

"My contract finally expires after ten years of this crap. I no longer have to hunt that which I love, and can take up studying them again. Perhaps even go back and visit NooMoahk again if I find time."

Charmungur laughed. "You never get tired of telling that story!"

"Well, you can hardly argue with someone who lived with a Dragon for a few years, now can you?"

"You can't at that!" Charmungur agreed. They stayed up well into the night, talking of past memories. Hazeleye gave him the canvas bag, which contained, much to his delight, a purple gemstone, his favorite color. Charmungur thanked Hazeleye several times during their talk, before promptly falling asleep. They woke up at Dawn, a scant few hours since they fell asleep. Gobold and Swampgaze came out to say farewell to both Orik and Charmungur, before Charmungur announce that they were to move out. Hazeleye looked at the slowly shrinking column her best friend led, not knowing that It would be the last time she ever saw him. She was filled with an upmost sad forbearing that held her until Swampgaze ordered them out as well.


End file.
